Death At Dawn
Characters Leader: Smokingstar - Dark gray tomcat with battle scarred ears Deputy: Flarepelt - Light orange she-cat, amber eyes Medicine Cat: Fallenpetal - White and silver she-cat with blue eyes Warriors: Flamefur: Ginger tom with green eyes Driftingleaf: Golden brown tabby tom, amber eyes Frothtail: White she-cat with dark blue eyes Queens: Brindleleap: Silver she-cat with black stripes, mother of Flamefur's kits, Briarkit and Bramblekit Spottedwing: Tortoiseshell and white she-cat, green eyes Kits: Briarkit: Brown she-cat, green eyes Bramblekit: Brown tom, green eyes Chapter One Brindleleap sighed happily. Her two kits, Briarkit and Bramblekit, were pressing into her fur for warmth. The russle of brambles announced the enterance of her mate, Flamefur. He padded to her side and nuzzled Briarkit lovingly. The brown kit raised her head and gave a sleepy mew. "They're wonderful, Brindleleap," The ginger tom murmured. She sighed again and touched his nose with hers. "I know," She replied. She squirmed away from her daughter and son and rose to her paws. "I'm going out to stretch my legs. She turned to the other queen, Spottedwing. "Would you mind watching them, Spottedwing? I don't want them bothering the older cats while I'm gone." The tortoiseshell cat twisted around to nod at Brindleleap, then curled around the twins. "I'll take care of them, Brindleleap, don't worry," The queen mewed. Brindleleap smiled at Spottedwing and followed Flamefur out of the nursery. "I have to go on patrol," He admitted when she asked if he wanted to hunt with her. "But next time you get out, I'll hunt with you, I promise." He licked her ear and bounded away back towards the other cats in his patrol. Brindleleap grunted and raced out of the tunnel, tasting the air for prey-scent. It was an ordinary day in RainClan. But when Brindleleap returned, the day would be far from ordinary. Chapter Two Brindleleap staggered into camp, a rabbit and two mice in her jaws. The puffy tail of the rabbit covered ehr eyes, and she was relying on sound to get her safely to the fresh-kill pile. "Brindleleap! Brindleleap, come quick!" Alarmed by Spottedwing's wail, she dropped her prey a few tail-lengths from the pile and bounded across to the clearing, Flamefur on her heels. "What is it?" She demanded when she flicked the brambles out of ehr face. Spottedwing was crouched there, her green eyes wide with regret and panic. "Briarkit and Bramblekit are gone!" She yowled. "They asked me to go to the dirtplace. I couldn't say no, could I? I let them go, and they never came back! I went to find them and the back of the tunnel had a gap tore in it. There scent led out of the hole, then disappeared at the roots of a tree." Brindleleap shrieked and Flamefur growled, running his claws over the moss the lined the floor of the nusery. "We have to find them," Brindleleap moaned, shoving Flamefur out of the nursery before he could harm Spottedwing. She ducked into the dirtplace tunnel, wrinkling her nose up at the stench. Sure enough, there was a gap in the back, just big enough for her kits to fit through. She flicked Flamefur on the tail and pointed at the hole. He gasped and barreled into it, nearly taking out the back wall. "Flamefur..." She muttered, following her broad-shouldered mate into the forest. He was snuffling around in hte leaf-litter, grunting ever now and then. He looked up at her. "There scent trail ends here," He murmured. "Where else could they have gone? The scent isn't on the tree, which means that they didn't climb it..." Cats searched for her kits for moons, with no luck. A few days after they went missing, it rained, washing away what little of there scent remained. They searched the whole territory, hoping to find fresh scent, with no progress. Two moons passed before cats gave up, much to Brindleleaps horror. Chapter Three Two moons after the kits go missing.... "Good morning, Brindleleap," Driftingleaf greeted her as she went out to hunt. She flicked her ears at the golden tom; He was one of the cats who had given up looking for her twins, and she didn't speak to them much. She shoved past him and padded through the brambles. She was heading for the oak tree where her kits scent trail had ended; She went there a lot to search for the scent of her kits; Any scent, fresh or stale. She sighed when, as usual, she found no trace of her son and daughter. She arrived in camp a while later, her jaws stuffed with fresh-kill. She lay the four mice on the fresh-kill pile, glancing curiously at the group of cats circled around something near the center of camp. Brindleleap jumped as she felt something brush her flank, but it was only Flamefur. "What's going on?" He mewed, twitching his whiskers. She shrugged. "Hey, Frothtail!" She called to her white-pelted friend. She turned and bounded to Brindleleaps side. "What are you all doing?" Frothtail's jaws dropped, as if she was going to say something, then she closed it. She sighed. "You can come see for yourself," The white she-cat replied. She turned and padded back to the circle of cats. She shoved a few Clanmates to the side to make room for Flamefur and his mate. Lying in the dirt, covered in tangy blood that disguised the scent, were two small cats. There necks were snapped back, legs twisted in sick angles. The breeze made their tails ripple, as if they were still alive. Brindleleaps breath caught in her throat. "It's Briarkit and Bramblekit." Chapter Four Brindleleap stared at the three mounds of dirt at her paws. Tears dripped from her muzzle and splashed onto the graves of her daughter, son, and mate. A few days after Briarkit and Bramblekit had turned up dead, Flamefur had thrown himself under the paws of a monster. His spirit had left for StarClan before she could get help. Spottedwing was sitting next to her. "It's my fault they're dead," She murmured, adding her own tears to the graves. "If I hadn't let them go to the dirtplace, they wouldn't have been caught and killed. If only I knew who killed them..." Her voice trailed off as her sobs began to choke her. "I'm sorry, Brindleleap," She choked out. Brindleleap sighed and ran her tail down her friends side. She turned and left the grave site. It was too much for her. All she wanted was for the cat who murdured her kits to die, the same way her twins had died. She spotted Smokingstar picking through the fresh-kill pile. "Hello, Smokingstar," She greeted him. He looked up and smiled at her. "I need to speak to you about..." She needn't finish. Smokingstar nodded, plucked a soggy sparrow from the pile, and motioned for her to follow him to his den, a pile of rocks that formed a cave on a ledge near the back of camp. He settled down to dig into the sparrow and motioned for her to speak. "Well, I wanted to know who was out of camp when Briarkit and Bramblekit disappeared," She mewed quietly. "If you sent out any patrols, or saw any cat leave the camp." He swalled a bite of sparrow loudly. "I had one patrol out," He replied. "Flamefur, Timbertail, and Emberglow were on it. They were patroling the border near Flat Rocks. Um... that's it." Brindleleap nodded. That narrowed it down to two cats in her own Clan. She knew that Flamefur hadn't killed them. She thanked Smokingstar and left his den, careful not to fall over the side as she had done as a kit. She quiried Emberglow and Timbertail, but they knew nothing. They reported that all the cats in the patrol had stayed in sight from the time they had left to the time they returned. Brindleleap was stuck. But she would do anything to avenge Briarkit, Bramblekit, and Flamefur's deaths.